Thank you all SO very much for all of your support during my training and fundraising efforts! It is thanks to you that I surpassed both of my goals for this event!

My first goal of raising $2,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was met last month and we totaled $2,452! Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back for being a part of the fight against blood cancers!!

For the Rock n Roll Savannah Marathon and Half Marathon, Team in Training had over 500 participants and raised $1.4 million!! WOW!

My second goal was to train and work my way up to interval running to complete my first half marathon. Thanks to your words of encouragement and support I not only finished the 13.1 miles, but ran the entire thing!! A huge thank you to my training buddy and inspiration Lesley Robinson! I never would have been able to do it without you Champion!

I never would have thought I would ever say this, but it seems I have caught the running bug! I am signed up for a 5K in December and another in March!

I am heading to Houston today for work and then spending a couple days there with my friend Christina. She has already been planning places for us to go so I can get back to training next week!

Thank you again for all of your support.

WE can do anything good!! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

Wow, it has been a busy couple of weeks! But, I am happy to report that I have been faithful to my training.

I have been doing my weekday mileage at the gym and increasing my running intervals pretty consistently. My last trip to the gym I did 5 and 2 intervals for four miles!!

With these increasing distances and longer intervals running, I have encountered a new issue – I have had sweat running into my eyes. When I commented on it to some co-workers I mentioned that was what eyebrows are for and they disagreed. We googled it and I was right. The purpose of our eyebrows is to keep moisture out of our eyes and they are arched to send the moisture (sweat) down the side of our face. As I type this it reminds me of many family dinners when I would ask my Dad a question and his response would usually be “Look it up”. My brother and I would go into the den after dinner, pull out our trusty encyclopedia and look up whatever we were asking about. Life pre-google! I digress – My eyebrows are not doing their job so I am going to have to invest in a good sweatband, or maybe a visor.

Last Saturday we had a recovery run of six miles and new route that took us to the Ravenel Bridge. It was a beautiful view and a great run!

Lesley and I had to work yesterday, so we did our long run on Friday afternoon. We decided that we liked that view from the bridge so much that we would include it on our route. So we mapped out our nine miles and set to it. We got all the way through the city pretty smoothly and got to the bridge just in time to see a storm rolling in. We stopped to look back at the city and see the apartment building where we started. We headed up the bridge a bit then looked back…we couldn’t see the apartment building anymore because of the storm.

Then up the bridge a bit more and another look back – the whole city was gone, all we could see was rain – it was coming straight for us, but there was no escaping, so we just kept going. Just as we leveled out on the bridge it started POURING! We went all the way across the bridge and halfway back over in a pretty good downpour with lots of wind. I kept telling Lesley I wanted to do a training session in the rain so I could see what it was like – boy did I get what I asked for! My eyebrows were completely overworked this time!! The rain running down my forehead with sweat into my eyes was kind of miserable. And then there was the problem of my glasses. I had to take them off for the majority of the storm. I have decided a visor is definitely in order!

This is the bridge

While going up the bridge and before the rain, I saw a bright something on the ground ahead of me. As I got closer I realized it was a toy, a little Playschool pirate! I picked him up and he is now our running mascot. One-Eyed Runnie has lots of training to do, but he is going to do a great job, peg leg and all!

We ended up doing about ten miles, here's a picture of us with our new pirate friend.

PURPLE HAIR UPDATE: $300 and 6 days to go! Will you be the one to make me dye my hair purple?!

Thank you everyone for your continued support!

I can do anything good! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

I am only about $400 dollars away from my goal!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has contributed!

I have decided that I REALLY want to reach my goal of $2,000 by September 30.

So that leaves three weeks for about $400 dollars, which breaks down to $133 per week.

But, I can't do it on my own...I need your help!

As an incentive...

If I reach my goal of $2,000 by September 30, I will dye my hair purple.

Why purple? Team in Training's colors are purple and green.

Yes, I have gotten permission at work and am actually kind of excited to have purple hair.

As you can see above, I have purchased the dye...I kept the receipt in case I don't reach my minimum, but I really don't like returning things...Please don't make me return it.

Thank you all for your continued support!

I can do anything good!!

PS - I ran 3 minute intervals for my full 2 miles last night!!

I am a bit of a klutz. Not that I am proud of it, but I can't deny it.

The dislocated toes from walking into door jams...skinned up knees and hands filled with dirt from a run on a trail...visit to the hospital after hitting my head on the support post of the jungle gym...sprained ankle playing soccer by myself...bloody nose from walking into a wall...

Those are just some of the examples that come to mind over a span many years of my life. My dad used to say that I could trip over the sideline of the soccer field and started calling me Grace whenever I did something especially klutz-y.

Well, it took me a whole three months of walking and running, but Saturday I fell.

We had been running and walking for about an hour and a half and got to the Battery. I prefer to take the walk along the water, which is built up and made with big slate slabs that are not all that even or stable. (but completely safe, of course). Just moments after Lesley said, "Let's walk to the end, I don't feel comfortable running on this", my toe caught on an edge.

Everything that followed was in slow motion.

For an instant I thought "whoa that was close, I almost fell"...then I was laying on the ground.

I ended up with just a small scrape on my hand and a skinned knee.

So, Lesley helped me up and on we went. A big thank you to Lesley for not laughing!!

We finished up a great 8 miles, which included interval running.

Here is the Battery, one of the prettiest places in Charleston...luckily since I am used to tripping and falling, it isn't ruined for me after Saturday!

Remember Sesame Street? I always liked the part where they said "Today's episode is brought to you by the letter..." and then had lots of stuff about and with that letter.

I had an epiphany on Saturday. The first two miles are always the WORST for me. It doesn't matter how many miles are to follow, once I get past those two miles, I just feel great and that I could go on forever.

So, this episode of my training is brought to you by the number 2.

Someday, an episode of my training will be brought to you by the letter A, for awesome!

My friend Lesley said it perfectly: "You are built for distance, not speed".

Yes, that is it exactly!

Thank you for your continued support!